HESTIA(Roman = Vesta)
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The Greek goddess of the hearth (a central symbol of home and family in ancient Greece) and meal preparation, she was the eldest of the three daughters of the Titans Kronos and Rhea. Kronos swallowed Hestia, along with four of her siblings, and they remained in his belly until Zeus made him vomit them up. After the Titanomachy, Hestia asked Zeus to promise her that she could remain a virgin and only have to tend to her realms. He agreed and made it known that he protected her virginity. As goddess of the hearth, her primary role was to tend to the family’s wellbeing. Her symbol became the hearth (both the small hearths in homes and the larger community hearths in the center of villages). Because of this, she had few temples in the Greek world, but the reality was that every hearth was a temple to her. For her, the primary element of a family’s wellbeing was food. Thus, loaves of bread and the pig also became her symbols as primary staples for the family table. Hestia was always depicted as a caring, modest goddess. She never required the grandiose examples of worship that her fellow Olympians would. Because she cared so much for humanity, she was focused on her duties and hated quarrels, especially those that would tear her away from her work. This primary attribute of hers would cause her to fade in Greek mythology. She was known to have “given up” her thrown to Mt. Olympus to its youngest god, Dionysus, when he came to claim his position as one of the Olympians. Hera, jealous that Zeus had an affair with Dionysus’ mother, quarreled that there could be only twelve Olympian gods and thus, Dionysus could not ascend to such a high position. To stop the fighting and to be allowed to focus solely on her duties, Hestia volunteered her thrown to him. She would fade into the backdrop of Greek mythology, but every prayer at a family meal was worship enough for her.
In Rome, however, she would become one of the predominately worshipped gods. Known by the Romans as Vesta, she remained a virgin and demanded that her priestesses be virgins (Vestal virgins), too. She became known for her kindness and purity, and she is one of the very few gods in Roman mythology to have an active priesthood (clergy who lived, worshipped and maintained her temples on-site). And, she is the only god who had temples built to her throughout the kingdom. People, especially women, worshiped her at shrines all over the Roman world.